The winds were so strong, they tore the stitching off the flag. The flag flew over the state Capitol in downtown Nashville.

“Tore ’em right out of the center,” said Jeremy Heidt, public information officer for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

The flag was given to Gov. Phil Bredesen who gave it to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency to show appreciation for the agency helping people recover from the storms.

Canada’s flag day celebrations are quite similar to ours. The school children draw pictures of the flag and learn the history. The Canada flag bearing the national symbol—the maple leaf— was first raised over Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 15, 1965.

Students from Ecole Connaught Community School and Ecole Elsie Mironuck School celebrated the event with Lt.-Gov. Gordon Barnhart, local veterans and representatives of the RCMP at Government House. The festivities began with a flag-raising ceremony outside the building. Once inside the students were treated to a short history lesson on flags by Barnhart.

The Alabama flag features the St. Andrew’s cross in red. This article is a great history lesson, not only for Alabama, but vexillology in general.

MICHAEL E. PALMER’S ALMANAC: The study of flags is the study of history | TuscaloosaNews.comSome of my favorite flags from a design standpoint are based on the St. Andrew’s cross. The St. Andrew’s Cross became a popular flag pattern in the first century. St. Andrew was an apostle who spread the word of Christ through Greece and Asia Minor. The Romans crucified Andrew. Legend states that Andrew felt he was not worthy to be crucified in the manner of Christ, so he chose to be martyred on a diagonal cross. After his death, St. Andrew was depicted in paintings holding a diagonal cross. Soon, nations that chose Andrew as their patron saint adopted banners and heralds based on the St. Andrew’s pattern.

In vexillology, the study of flags, the St. Andrew pattern is called a saltire. A saltire is two diagonally crossed bars forming an ‘X’ shape.

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